


like a scene from a manga

by andthencoffee (yawawoo)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Attempt at Humor, Johnyong besties, M/M, Me going full on weeb on this, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21512746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawawoo/pseuds/andthencoffee
Summary: Prompt #133:Johnny only wanted to find a gift for his friend as soon as possible, he didn't want to spend even a minute more in that manga shop, but then he saw the most beautiful man he'd ever seen, and he kept coming back even though he had never read a manga in his life.Or, Johnny will probably turn into a manga enthusiast because of Yuta.
Relationships: Lee Taeyong/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Nakamoto Yuta/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 9
Kudos: 40
Collections: NCT Rarepair





	like a scene from a manga

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello! 
> 
> This is my first ever fic fest. I just hope that this is close enough to what the prompter wants! (｡ﾉω＼｡)
> 
> Shout-out to my mutuals who have listened to me stress about this. I hope it's funny enough! 
> 
> Also: all the manga titles mentioned in this story are real and are my favorites! (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)

It all started because of one sick and whiny Lee Taeyong.

“Johnny! It’s my birthday soon! And it’s a limited bundle! It’s sold out everywhere online! If you get it for me I’ll feel— _cough_ —better!” whined he from under his pile of blankets.

Johnny rolled his eyes as his best friend hacked a lung behind a mask. But he still handed him his glass of warm water. “How can a comic book bundle deal improve your health? If anything, you’ll just end up staying up all night reading! It’s a ten-volume bundle pack, you said?!” 

“First of all, it’s called a _manga._ Second, you can keep it until it’s my actual birthday. Just _knowing_ that I have them will help me sleep better at night! _Please,_ Youngho? It comes with an _adorable_ bonus pouch, too…”

It’s hard not to slightly waver when Taeyong threw in his Korean name while doing a quite accurate imitation of his dog’s, Ruby, version of puppy eyes. “Promise you’ll really focus on recovering first and not sneak behind my back reading them?”

Taeyong’s concealed pout must be turning into a wide smile as he nodded enthusiastically, but then he stopped when it made him dizzy. “Promise! You don’t even have to pay me back for the tacos last week!”

Okay, that was a good deal, so Johnny huffed in defeat. “Fine. Where can I get them?”

“I’ll draw you a map! You have to go now before it rains. They say it’s gonna rain later this afternoon,” Taeyong said, sluggishly moving to scribble on his neon pink sticky note.

“Now, as in, right this moment?” Taeyong nodded without looking up from his focused drawing.

“Yes. We’re fighting for a chance to get them with every passing second. I swear, Johnny, it would mean _a lot_ if you get them…”

So, yeah, a ten-minute walk later, Johnny was standing in front of a small shop he’d never noticed before in the shopping area near his university dorms. Its glass doors and windows were almost entirely covered by colorful promotional posters with 2D drawings of people and creatures of all genders, races, species… okay, Johnny spotted what seemed to be a _slime ball_ … riding a dragon?

The cloudy summer sky didn’t allow Johnny to judge further and decided to rain on him and the rest of Seoul. And so, Johnny was forced to enter the shop. He placed his umbrella in the rack by the door. Johnny didn’t see a large crowd he’d expected to see when Taeyong implied that he had to compete with other fans of the series. In fact, Johnny seemed to be the _only_ customer in the shop. There was no one behind the register.

Johnny observed the rows upon rows upon rows of Japanese comic books arranged on shelves—first, by what he assumed were categories, then by letter. Johnny didn’t have the slightest idea of what _shoujo_ or _ecchi_ meant.

Johnny was starting to get an _idea_ of what _ecchi_ meant from the unnatural angles from which girls in school uniforms evidently too small for them were drawn on the covers when he heard the shuffling of shoes on the floor. From what looked like the staff room emerged a guy cuddling and cooing at a fat tabby cat. Johnny watched him kiss the feline, internally itching to ask if he could pet the cat, too. Then the guy looked up and noticed Johnny.

"Oh, a customer! Welcome!" he said, smiling so widely and making the cat wave at Johnny with one pink paw.

Well, _shit._ The guy was so incredibly pretty? Johnny couldn’t even begin to describe how wide and sunny his smile was? His eyes lit up and turned to sparkly crescents in such a beautiful way?

The cat let out a meow that Johnny swore sounded so _judgmental_ . Almost as if mocking Johnny: _dude, you good? Don’t envy me being in his arms and getting his kisses too much cause I’m actually fluffy and you’re not._ Ugh! Cats were so manipulative! But cute!

The pretty guy put the cat down onto the counter. It folded itself into a neat loaf, turning away from Johnny, and seemed to be content to doze off. And then suddenly the guy is in front of Johnny! How did he sneak up on him like that?!

“Can I help you? Are you looking for,” he glanced at the volumes in the aisle Johnny was observing, “something specific?”

Oh, no, no, _no_ . Johnny couldn’t have this guy thinking he liked _ecchi_! Johnny knew there was something a bit ominous about the name! “Uh, yes. I’m looking for this title… do you have the bundle package that comes with a pouch bonus?”

The guy—oh wow his nose was so _sharp_ and his eyes _sparkled, what am I seeing?_ —accepted the sticky note where Taeyong had written the title of the series that he wanted. His eyes lit up in recognition, and Johnny’s heart took a leap when he nodded and smiled, his loop piercings catching light prettily. “Yes, we still have them! You’re lucky you’re here today! We might be sold out tomorrow!”

Johnny thought he’d still be lucky enough if it were sold out since Johnny met him anyway but that was just too cheesy to say in the first meeting.

The guy led Johnny who trailed behind him leisurely to the _shoujo_ aisle. This time it was a splash of sometimes sweet, sometimes playful girls with huge eyes and triangular smiles greeting Johnny’s eyes. Johnny supposed they were kind of cute. There was the occasional boys featured on the covers, black-haired and mysterious. They were all pretty though. Johnny saw a brown-haired boy with a wide smile and thought if he came out of his two-dimensional world, he would look a lot like the guy helping him.

“This is the one you’re looking for!” the guy said, gesturing towards a nearly-empty row with cute, wriggly fingers. Sure enough, there were only about five bundle packs left of this series called _Kocchimuite, Miiko!_ The cover of the first volume was visible, and Johnny was _glad_ that Taeyong hadn’t made him buy one of those _ecchi_ ones. The girl on the cover seemed to be having innocent fun with friends.

After spending some time deciding which color of the bonus pouch Taeyong would like better, Johnny was led to the cashier counter. Johnny bit his lower lip, trying to think up of _something_ , because maybe he wasn’t ready to leave yet. The guy petted the cat on his way to his post. He scanned the barcode and commented, “Cute purchase.”

Johnny’s cheek burned slightly hearing the word _cute_ coming out of the guy’s mouth with _that smile. Oh my God, he smiles so much—_ “It’s a gift for a friend…”

“Oh! You friend has taste. Take them with you here, sometime?” 

Was that… did he _mean_ it? Did he really want Johnny to visit again? Or was it just basic marketing strategy? Was his _smile_ a marketing weapon?!

Well, it worked on Johnny, because two days later Johnny was back at the shop. Taeyong-less though, because Ten visited their room and brought him homemade tom yum soup. Ten had been feeding Taeyong—who was definitely better after Johnny came back with his gift—and Johnny had left pretending to be fed up with them. It was half a lie because they were cute together, honestly, but Johnny had his own cute boy to visit.

That sunny afternoon, Johnny came with the meanings of the manga categories memorized (definitely avoiding the _ecchi_ aisle this time), along with several titles he’d casually extracted from Taeyong (who went, “You’re buying more for me?”). The plan was to properly introduce himself to the boy, whose name was Yuta, unless the store never updated the name of the employee operating the register, which was printed out on the receipt. (Johnny still couldn’t believe he met a Japanese boy in a Japanese manga shop! Sure, it was Seoul, but it felt like something! _Destiny?_ )

Johnny planned to have a conversation that would naturally progress into them exchanging names and maybe getting to know each other a little bit. Ask the cat’s name, how long Yuta had been working in the shop, if his favorite beverage was fruit smoothie because Johnny spied a cup from the local coffee shop on the counter…

“Oh. Who is that behind the counter?” Johnny found himself asking without preamble when he joined Yuta in crouching in the _shounen_ aisle, eyeing the stacks of a series called _Haikyuu!!_ , a title Taeyong included in his all-time top ten favorite manga, which Yuta was in the middle of organizing.

“That’s Winwin! Another employee,” Yuta answers with a smile. “Hello! You’re back again!”

Johnny didn’t expect to see the killer smile so soon. “Y-yes. Hello, Yuta.”

Yuta turned fully to face Johnny with an even wider smile, his eyes sparkling. “Oh! You read my name in the receipt! Nobody ever bothered before, even some of the regulars.”

“It’s a cool name. I’m Johnny by the way,” and Yuta accepted his hand in a firm and warm handshake.

Maybe Johnny didn’t have to use his plan B anyway (which was to point out that he was back to take his umbrella he’d left behind), because once names were exchanged, conversation came naturally to both of them. Johnny was content to follow Yuta’s example and sit cross-legged on the floor, pretending to read the summary of the mangas near him. It was actually a disguise to make it seem as if Johnny wasn’t just staring at Yuta all the time, you know. Johnny was one smooth dude, if he must say so himself. 

Then came the question Johnny had been dreading: “What titles are you currently following?”

Before Johnny could respond, the other boy behind the counter popped up from behind a shelf. “Yuta-hyung, Taeil-hyung is here, so you can finish your shift now,” Johnny heard him say in a deep and accented voice.

“Alright!” Yuta cheered, jumping to his feet. He looked at Johnny who was slower in getting up with a thoughtful expression on his face, his thin lips pursed.

If Johnny once said that his friend Jung Jaehyun had the best timing ever, it was because it was _true_ , because as Yuta tried to say something, he spammed Johnny’s Katalk with messages saying, ‘ _hyung! Im gonna call u u better pick up! Its abt the Composition group project_ ’.

Johnny left the shop for the second time with the seventeenth volume of _Haikyuu!_ , a promise to come back, and an urge to treat Jaehyun tteokbokki.

Johnny planned to leave the shop more accomplished next time.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry it's so short?? Life got in the way and I'm trying to meet the deadline so there will have to be a part two!
> 
> Thank you for reading!! Please let me know what you think? It'd make my whole week if you do(✯ᴗ✯)
> 
> ((Also, I might have two other versions for this prompt but I decided to post this one because I feel like this fits the mood for the prompt more! If I ever finish the other versions I might post them, too!))
> 
> Anyways! 
> 
> In part two:  
> Will Johnny finally learn the cat's name? Will the cat let him pet it?! There's competition?! There's more Taeyong contributing to the plot?!! Stay tuned for the next and final installment of Johnny's journey into the manga world~


End file.
